Robert Gibbs smacks down Joe Scarborough’s voter ID ‘fetish’: ‘It’s so more people won’t vote’

Conservative MSNBC host Joe Scarborough on Sunday insisted that African-Americans would support Republican politicians who back photo ID measures that Democrats say are designed to disenfranchise the black voters.

During a panel discussion on NBC’s Meet the Press with former White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs, MSNBC host Andrea Mitchell pointed out that Sen. Rand Paul’s (R-KY) had the “facts wrong” on voter photo ID.

NBC host Chuck Todd agreed that Paul was just trying to “please the [Republican] base because the base just has this — it’s sort of a fetish.”

“There are some of us that actually believe,” Scarborough interrupted.

“Is there voter fraud?” Todd shot back.

“By the way, I got 50 percent among the African-American voters in my district, and I campaigned in predominantly black districts,” Scarborough continued, ignoring Todd’s question. “I don’t think most Americans are freaked out, when you say you should show a picture ID when you go vote.”

“I think the issue is sort of how many forms,” Todd replied.

“It’s disproportionately disadvantaging people that don’t have IDs,” Mitchel observed.

“Let’s be clear,” Gibbs asserted. “The problem in voter ID, and in restricting early [voting] is so more people won’t vote.”

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David Edwards has served as an editor at Raw Story since 2006. His work can also be found at Crooks & Liars, and he's also been published at The BRAD BLOG. He came to Raw Story after working as a network manager for the state of North Carolina and as as engineer developing enterprise resource planning software. Follow him on Twitter at @DavidEdwards.